United States’ Kobe Bryant, center, goes up for a basket against Argentina during a FIBA Americas Championship gold medal basketball game at the Thomas & Mack Center in Las Vegas, Sunday, Sept. 2, 2007.

Las Vegas – There is a calm cool around USA Basketball these days, the kind of relaxed confidence not seen around the program in recent years.

Things are looking up.

Stars recognizable by one name – Kobe, Carmelo, LeBron, Amare – give the roster credibility and the kind of A-list punch Team USA has not enjoyed in more than a decade. Executives and coaches with a plan smiled as they witnessed a well-crafted blueprint turn into on-court demolition jobs of every other country that put a team on the court the past two weeks during the FIBA Americas Championship, an Olympic- qualifying tournament at the Thomas & Mack Center.

Are the Americans back?

Maybe.

Team USA stormed through 10 games without a loss en route to the tournament title and easily advanced to the 2008 Beijing Olympics. Team USA, led by LeBron James’ 31 points, crushed Argentina 118-81 on Sunday in the championship game. No team in Las Vegas came within 15 points of the Americans, a basketball program that has lost luster and respect in so many recent years of failure on the world’s stage.

“My whole thing is, and I’ve stood on this the whole time, is we’re trying to regain dominance,” guard Chauncey Billups said. “We feel we have the best athletes, the best players.”

Sparse crowds to watch the transformation suggest convincing still needs to be done, but mixed with blowout victories there is a feeling this U.S. team and this program are on the right track.

The global game’s ever-closing talent gap has been the biggest change from the Dream Team days, but when Magic Johnson showed up courtside at the Thomas & Mack Center during the tournament and then in the locker room, he told the team it looked very much like his. Johnson’s recollections were of a team with superior talent that worked together.

The Dream Team won the 1992 Summer Olympics title by whipping overmatched opponents by an average of 43.8 points. The Dream Team advanced to those Olympics by winning all its qualifying games by an average of 51.5 points.

This time, Team USA qualified for the Olympics by winning its games by an average of 35.9 points. Team USA had to play in the FIBA Americas Championship tournament because a third-place finish last year in the world championships denied that qualifying bid. And while that seemed bad at the time, the architect of this new, improved U.S. Basketball program – managing director Jerry Colangelo – had a different take.

“Where are we? We are a lot further than we would have been had we won the world championships and had a summer of just a week of work,” he said. “This really is preparing us more for our eventual goal and objective, which is to not only get to Beijing, but to win a gold medal.”

It was Colangelo’s idea, with the help of Team USA coach Mike Krzyzewski of Duke, to craft a team of pieces that fit together more than a squad with star after star. This team, how- ever, has both. It has James, Carmelo Anthony, Kobe Bryant and Dwyane Wade, who missed the Las Vegas tournament because of an injury. It also has an up-and-coming star (Dwight Howard) in the post, veteran leaders (Billups and Jason Kidd) and added sharpshooters (Michael Redd and Mike Miller).

“I’ve been pleased with the blend,” Krzyzewski said.

The result: The Americans led the tournament in every shooting category, most notably from the 3-point line, where they hit nearly 50 percent of their attempts. Opponents that tried to zone Team USA on defense simply were punished from the outside.

“In terms of how we’re playing, I think the zone is a non- issue right now,” Colangelo said.

Krzyzewski’s coaching has blended flashy with functional. Alley-oop dunks are combined with solid defense, and behind- the-back passes are a cocky microcosm of the unselfish nature of the bunch.

“I think the changes that were made, the shooters that were brought in, the maturity of our young players a year ago and where they are today, we’re light years ahead of last year,” Colangelo said. “And I think we’ll be better next year.”

Team USA will have to be. It is no secret most of the teams in the Olympic-qualifying tournament were missing their star players, most notably Argentina, which will put NBA stars Manu Ginobili, Andres Nocioni and Fabricio Oberto on the court next summer. Spain, which won last year’s world championship, wasn’t even in this field.

“That’s something that we have to keep in mind and understand that they’ve been playing together for a long time,” Bryant said. “So when they get those guys back, they aren’t going to lose anything. They are going to pick up where they left off. So it’s important for us to continue to work together and continue to build on this rhythm, build on this chemistry so that we’re ready for them.”

And all seem comfortable with the commitment.

Team USA played 10 games in Las Vegas in 12 days, including six in a row at one point, a stretch not even the NBA puts its players through. But, somewhat disarming, these players do it with a smile, looking forward to next summer.

“I think guys like Carmelo and LeBron and Amare, who were part of the Athens debacle (in 2004), they have a lot of experience now, coming through that, going through the grind, losing in the world championships and here we are,” Colangelo said. “They are a lot older, a lot more mature, they are a lot better physically and emotionally and better prepared to play in this competition.”

Rockies all-star shortstop crushed his 100th career homer against the Orioles Friday night at Coors Field. The blast was a mammoth shot that had some history behind it as Story is now the fasted shortstop on MLB history to 100 home runs.